Then I thought, “To this I will appeal: the years when the Most High stretched out his right hand. I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. I will consider all your works and meditate on all your mighty deeds.” (Ps 77:10-12, NIV)
I have at times recommended resources that I think that our church would find most useful, usually in the form of podcasts and this week is no different. I would like to draw your attention to another podcast that I have been listening to by Dr. Paul Roe. Now if you have not heard of Dr. Paul Roe that is totally understandable as he is not a theologian or bible college professor. No among his peers he’s simply known as the “Outback Historian” and the podcast that I would like to commend to you today is called “Australia’s Invisible History”. Now, why might I be commending to you a podcast by a history professor who lectures on Australian history? Well I’m doing it because Dr Roe is actually a Christian and a Pastor from Queensland, who was strongly convicted early on in his ministry that Australians had lost touch with our Christian heritage. He has even made a comment in his lectures that Australia thinks that we are a progressive and left leaning society, but as soon as you dig under the soil a bit, you will quickly find that the roots of Christianity go very deep. In fact, though he would in no way push the view that we are a Christian nation (or were intended to be), he’s convinced that to lose touch with our Christian heritage is to lose touch with what much of our society was built on, hard working men and women of God who bought the gospel and served the community in love.
The lectures are very small and done more like an interview with his daughter-in-law, but what is fascinating is that he focuses on things that we know all about, but for the most part from the point of view of the Christians that were involved. For example, he talks about Presbyterian pastor John Gribble. Now I don’t expect anyone to know that name (I certainly didn’t) but Rev. Gribble has gone down in history because he adored and served the Aboriginal community in Jerilderie, NSW and spent his life teaching and serving the town with the gospel. And once he even put his life on the line for the town as he saw the Kelly gang stealing a horse, thus Rev Gribble, who just so happened to be in the Church over the road, ran out to stand up to the Kelly gang to which Ned apologised, gave the horse back and left town. That’s just one thing he was known for, but it was Rev. Gibble’s love for all those he came in contact with that drove him to show them what the gospel actually does to people who put their trust in Christ and people were converted and went on to live lives driven by a love for God and others and the gospel spread in significant ways through NSW. Did you know John Flynn was a Presbyterian pastor that worked with the inland mission to set up the Royal Flying Doctor Service? Have you heard about the Methodist’s mission to remote communities sending them “the Angels of Augustus”? Neither had I, but all these wonderful Christian people were driven to see the widow taken care of, the poor clothed and fed and the downtrodden spoken for and they did something about it (Deut 15:11, Prov 14:31, Gal 2:10).
No matter where you come from it is important to remember that God is always at work through his people wherever He has them, always at work through his church to radically transform the lives of others. Now, without doubt the gospel is the power unto salvation for all those who believe (Rom 1:16) and this good news that we have has eternal blessing for all those who turn to Christ. So I must say I have been wonderfully encouraged to listen to how the gospel was carried by our faithful brothers and sisters into the hardest places in Australia and real transformation was seen. I hope you are encouraged too
WEBSITE: https://www.theoutbackhistorian.com.au/
PODCAST: https://hope1032.com.au/show/australias-invisible-history/